“We exercise our 8-month-old Doberman well before bed, and she does her business, but when we wake up in the morning, we still discover a covered cage. The Ageblem is that she defecates in her cage at night.
There are no health issues; we’ve already thrown out a number of rugs because she’s just emptying below herself.
I have to stress that this occurs three or four nights out of the seven. We spoke with the trainers and followed their advice, but the bowel motions persisted at night.
We are now running out of strength, so please advise us on what to do as she also exhibits behavioral issues.”—Rita
Is “Dirty Dog Syndrome” A Problem For7.our Dog?
Hi Rita, I’m sorry to hear that you’re having trouble with your Doberman, who is eight months old, pooping in the crate. Finding a large mess in your dog’s kennel and bedding when you get up in the morning may be extremely stressful, especially if these accidents are occurring frequently rather than infrequently.
There is a term for a dog’s propensity to urinate in a crate: “dirty dog syndrome.” The term describes dogs that are covered in feces, urine, or even both.
Your thorough explanation suggests that you are handling things the correct way. It’s a good idea to take her for a stroll outdoors at night to make sure she’s “empty” before putting her in a cage.
The reason she is still experiencing nighttime bowel movements even if she goes for walks immediately before bed is something that has to be looked into. Effective problem-solving depends on identifying the root cause, which occasionally calls for us to put on our detective caps in order to reduce the range of potential solutions.
Let’s examine more closely the factors that may cause dogs to have more frequent bowel movements and, most importantly, the tactics that can be used to reduce the likelihood of such incidents in the future. Keep going!
Does the Dog Actually Go Potty Before Being Put in the Crate for the Night?
You are probably nodding yes, yes, and yes, knowing full well the answer to this question. However, occasionally, especially in the dark, it can appear as though our dog has feces when in fact she hasn’t.
Maybe the grass is too long for us to easily see if the dog has feces or maybe we are seeing older waste that we have neglected to pick up. Sometimes, when we stroll along a public road, what we’re really seeing at is the excrement of another dog.
We must also take into account the possibility that some dogs may learn to squat just because they understand that the activity will relieve them of the pressure we put on them when we anticipate them to urinate and defecate. It is possible that we mistakenly believe our dog has pooped when, in fact, she has merely urinated.
To make matters worse, some dogs are “partial poopers,” which means that they might only urinate part of the way on a stroll before feeling the need to revisit their “unfinished business” after being created.
Because of this, it’s crucial to pay close attention to make sure the dog has finished urinating before putting them in a crate. Carrying a flashlight or limiting your walking to well-lit areas is a smart approach to obtaining “solid evidence.”
The Issue With Consistent Mishaps in the Crate
Dogs find that the act of pooping itself is rewarding since it satisfies their want to void. Dogs will then associate positively with urinating in a specific spot and will increasingly seek out that site.
Five Reasons Why Dogs Are Pooping More Often
Most dogs have enough intestinal control by the time they are 8 months old to be able to spend the night in their kennel without having to go potty. Before concluding that your dog’s accidents are the result of insufficient housetraining, we need to thoroughly assess the reasons behind her continued mishaps if you are confident that she urinated and defecated on the walk before being put in a crate.
The following are a few potential reasons why dogs may be pooping more frequently.
1. Partially Removed
As was previously said, some dogs are “partial poopers.” This can occur when the dog is preoccupied or may have been anxious in situations they aren’t totally at ease in.
Some dogs could feel hurried, which could prevent them from eliminating completely. Particularly perceptive dogs may feel under pressure to poop, and in an attempt to escape the situation as soon as possible, they may poop fast and incompletely.
Sometimes we praise and reward a dog too soon for successfully urinating outside before the dog has had time to properly empty its bowels, thereby interrupting the dog’s pooping session.
In the end, dogs might not have enough time or chance to relieve themselves completely during toilet breaks, particularly if they walk quickly or in a hurry.
2. Issues with Digestion
Sometimes the dog’s urge to poop more frequently can be caused by an underlying digestive problem.
Even though you stated taking your dog to the veterinarian, occasionally dogs can have mild or subclinical indications of digestive problems that are difficult to diagnose.
Dogs that are sensitive to certain foods, for example, may experience digestive problems, such as more frequent bowel motions. Additionally, intestinal parasites can irritate a dog’s intestines, which might result in more frequent bowel movements.
Any illness that prevents dogs from properly breaking down and absorbing their food can result in more frequent or larger stools.
It is also important to have a veterinarian thoroughly examine dogs for stomach problems or other health issues before labeling a toilet training issue as behavioral.
3. Nutritional Concerns
The quantity and frequency of the dog’s meals can occasionally be the root problem. Specifically, an overindulgence in food may be the cause of an increase in the amount and/or frequency of a dog’s feces.
According to veterinarian Dr. Beth Turner in a Preventive Vet article, this can be the situation when the dog is being double-fed, which can occur when someone else is also feeding the dog, or when the dog may be stealing food from the trashcan or from another pet.
Increased bowel movements in terms of volume and/or frequency may also be related to specific food kinds. For instance, low-cost dog foods could include inferior amounts of fiber, which could result in bigger stools.
Nutritionist and board-certified veterinarian Lisa Weeth provides a compelling explanation for this.
She says: “Lower-cost pet foods tend to have higher proportions of corn and wheat since these grains are also less expensive than animal protein. Too much fiber can increase the volume of stool, making your Yorkie poop like a Labrador.”
4. Anxiety and Stress
Dogs that are worried or extremely nervous may also exhibit an increase in the frequency of their bowel motions.
It has been discovered through research that animals’ gastrointestinal motility changes during stress. The large bowel’s motility rises, increasing stool output and transit speed, but the stomach and small intestine show noticeably decreased transit.
Even if they are only separated for short periods of time or at night, some dogs may experience stress when they are crated or separated from their family.
5. Age
Why do puppies and young dogs seem to poop significantly more than adult dogs? It turns out that a combination of quick metabolisms and growth itself are the primary reasons.
In addition, young pups have smaller stomachs, which means they need to eat and go outside more frequently.
Ask your veterinarian or a board-certified veterinary nutritionist for advice if you’re unsure of how much you should feed your puppy or young dog. Overfeeding should be avoided, particularly in large-breed puppies that are prone to growing quickly.
How Many Times a Day Should Dogs Poo?
Of course, there are a lot of unique factors to take into account. Compared to adult dogs, young puppies, for instance, are excrement factories and may urinate up to five times a day or more. In contrast, according to veterinarian Dr. Sandra C. Mitchell on PetMD, the majority of healthy adult dogs typically poop one to three times per day.
Were You Aware?
Dogs are known to have a gastrocolic reflex, which may induce them to urinate soon after eating. For this reason, it’s best to avoid giving dogs their meals right before bed.
The Advantages of Meal Scheduling
Changes in feeding practices, such as going from free-choice to planned feeding times, may help dogs who urinate inside their kennels. This can assist control the frequency of bowel movements to occur 30–60 minutes following a meal.
The Poopy Dog Syndrome: When Dogs Refuse to Go Potty in Their Crates
After examining a number of variables that may lead to an increase in the volume and frequency of a dog’s excrement, let’s examine a few other variables that might be at play.
The dog’s relationship with the crate can be a major problem. Let’s take a closer look at these subjects.
Generally speaking, a puppy should have an innate desire to avoid urinating or feces in areas where they play, eat, and sleep when they are brought into our home. It is commonly known as the “denning instinct.”
Dogs are not den creatures in the true meaning of the word, but in the wild, their predecessors raised their pups in enclosures resembling maternity dens until the pups were old enough to go out and explore.
Living in such dens, the pups would instinctively learn to go outside the den to relieve themselves so as not to contaminate their living space as they grew more and more mobile.
The major goal of toilet training is to help domestic dogs preserve the instinct of keeping their living spaces clean, even though they are no longer raised in dens.
A puppy must initially be toilet trained while in the care of the breeder, who will provide a special location for the pups to urinate and defecate that is kept apart from their eating, drinking, sleeping, and playing areas. After that, the puppy must be trained in a crate under the supervision of its new owner. After that, the idea progressively spreads to more room in the house. Let’s examine these turning points in more detail.
1. Setting Up a Specialized Bathroom in the Whelping Pen
Proficient breeders will begin toilet training their puppies as soon as they are ambulatory and ready to walk.
A whelping pen is a small space where a mother dog gives birth and raises her puppies for the first few weeks of their lives. A nook or other space that is distant from the pups’ sleeping and eating areas is chosen by breeders, who then label that space as the puppy’s “bathroom.”
In this special spot, the breeder will set up a few pee pads, a shallow litter box, or a puppy-friendly ground like grass or artificial turf. To help the pups not miss the target, the bathroom area will initially be very large. However, as the pups get older and more adept at finding their toilet site, the area can be reduced in size.
The breeder will gently lead the puppies to this special bathroom spot after they wake up from sleep or after feeding, and they will be rewarded or praised when they do potty there.
Along with gently introducing the puppies to their crates, the breeder will also clean up any messes on a regular basis.
2. Presenting the Idea of a Crate
It is vital to understand that although puppies were raised in maternity dens in their ancestral past, they are not true den creatures and will require some time to become used to living in a box. Put differently, they won’t think of a container as a den by default.
Therefore, a smart breeder will place the crates in the whelping enclosure with the doors fastened open and fill them with food to assist the pups develop positive associations with the crate. Puppies quickly pick up the skills necessary to sleep, eat, and relieve themselves outside of their crates, where they have allocated spaces for doing so.
The puppies may eventually sleep in their closed crates at night with one or more other puppies for company after they have finished eating. During meals, the puppies may remain closed in their crates until they have finished eating.
Following that, puppies might be gently weaned to sleep by themselves with the assistance of a Snuggle Puppy Behavioral Aid. Since they serve as a temporary mother or sibling for young dogs during their first few nights in a new home, I am a huge fan of these plush animals that radiate warmth and a heartbeat and always keep them on hand while fostering young dogs.
The lucky new owners will have partially potty-trained and crate-trained pups when they are ready to go to their new homes, which makes for a less traumatic transfer.
3. Presenting the Idea of a House
Puppies must learn how to use the bathroom in their new homes, either indoors on pee pads or another type of substrate or outdoors in a securely enclosed yard (or on walks).
The puppies have learned not to urinate in their sleeping quarters, therefore the crate will come in handy throughout this procedure. Additionally, the puppy’s confinement and inactivity in the crate lessen their urge to urinate or poop.
When it comes to crates, size matters. Potty training will be aided by a properly sized crate. The dog should be able to lie on his side, stand up, and turn around in the crate if it is big enough.
Well-trained puppies should vocalize or give other cues when they need to go potty while confined to a crate, as they tend not to urinate while they sleep. Owners must be nearby so they can take the dog outside right away. For this reason, during the puppy’s initial few days in his new home, it’s crucial to maintain the crate in the bedroom.
Not only does the puppy feel less alone in the bedroom when he is crated, but he can also indicate his desire to go potty well, which helps to avoid accidents in the crate.
To avoid your puppy waking up and demanding to be let outside, you may also program your alarm for a midnight pee break.
Animals Known to Have “Dirty Dog Syndrome”
Puppies under the care of the breeder should ideally be taught the value of not pooping in their crates at a young age. By keeping places for playing, sleeping, eating, and drinking separate from those designed for toilet breaks, responsible breeders will get pups off to a good start.
In addition, the breeders will teach the puppies what a crate is. They will make the crate a comfortable place for the puppies to reside, which can save a lot of time and worry when the owners have to bring their new puppies home and continue potty training.
However, not every puppy will have the good fortune to grow up with experienced and devoted breeders who will devote the necessary time and energy to aid hasten the toilet training process.
As a result, don’t anticipate that every puppy will have a cunning instinct built in. These unlucky puppies in particular might have the most trouble potty training:
Puppies from Pet Stores
Puppies seen in pet stores are frequently bred in commercial facilities, where output volume may take precedence over quality.
Because they are seldom ever taken out of their cages, pet store puppies are therefore likely to be undersocialized, to experience stress readily, and to be more likely to have accidents in their cages.
Dogs from Puppy Mills
Puppies bred in puppy mills are usually raised in filthy, crowded environments. They might be housed in cramped pens or tiny cages where they are unable to go outdoors to relieve themselves, forcing them to do so inside of their dwelling spaces.
Puppy mill dogs who receive minimal exposure to people and the outdoors may develop anxiety and reluctance when brought outside for toilet breaks and other unusual situations. They can feel forced to withdraw and hide in a location where they might also urinate.
Household Breeding Canines
Backyard breeders frequently grow their puppies in sheds, garages, and yards. It’s common for new puppy owners to suffer with toilet training and other behavioral issues since backyard breeders don’t prioritize early socialization and training.
Kennels for Commercial Breeding
Again, commercial breeding kennels prioritize the number of puppies they produce in order to make a profit. They might breed dogs of various breeds and, once more, give them minimal particular attention in terms of socialization and providing a sound foundation for housebreaking.
Some Sick Dogs Begin to Defecate in Their Crates
Many puppies eventually have accidents in the crate, but some puppies and dogs are “multiple offenders.” This behavior can originate from an illness and develop into a habit, which makes it difficult to break.
How Can I Prevent My Dog From Getting in His Crate? Ten Success Suggestions
We can finally breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that we have a plan to address the problem head-on, after looking into every potential reason why dogs poop in their crates. Naturally, depending on the underlying fundamental reason, different strategies will be used. Combining a few of these successful tactics may be helpful to you.
1. Eliminate Medical Issues
It’s critical to confirm that no medical issues have been excluded. Fecal testing to rule out parasites and other tests to make sure the dog isn’t experiencing digestive problems might be part of this.
Given that some pet diets have a reputation for increasing feces volume and frequency, it could also be helpful to talk about diet. It might also be beneficial to feed your dog earlier—that is, at least six hours before he is put to sleep in a crate.
To make sure all the bases have been covered, consult an experienced veterinarian (or, in cases of persistent cases, a veterinary behaviorist).
2. Ensure That Your Dog Is “Empty” Before Putting It in a Crate
This is a crucial step to take. When they let their dogs relieve themselves in the yard, many dog owners mistakenly believe that their pets have urinated and defecated when, in reality, the dogs have only sniffed or barked.
Walking the dog or, better yet, keeping it on a leash can aid in seeing good elimination, providing us with the chance to commend/reward it (I like to give out two or three high-value treats in succession) and obtain “solid evidence.”
3. Teach Your Dog to relieve Himself on Cue
The “go potty cue” is one crucial cue that I advise all new puppy owners to teach their dogs. This cue uses positive reinforcement, which helps the dog stay on task and joyfully eliminate.
When a dog is released outside or goes on a walk, this helpful cue can assist speed up the toilet training process. Training a dog to relieve themselves on cue is a never-ending task. This is a guide on teaching your dog to relieve himself on cue.
4. Verify That the Crate Is the Right Size
As previously said, the perfect crate should be roomy enough for the dog to sleep on his or her side, stand up, and turn around, but still snug enough to prevent the dog from pissing in one corner and being able to sleep soundly on the other. Therefore, it would be advantageous to use a smaller container or a partition/divider if the crate is too big.
However, a too-tight crate can also lead to issues: a dog who can’t “hold it” may find himself sleeping in his own excrement.
Most dogs will attempt to avoid this, but if they have soft, absorbent bedding underneath them, it may help to lessen their discomfort compared to being directly on top of the excrement.
4. Dismiss Anxiety
Certain dogs experience anxiety when placed in their crates, and others may even develop a fear of being confined, particularly if they haven’t been able to form a positive association with their crates from an early age. Some other canines have anxiety related to separation or noise phobias.
While the majority of dogs that are crated or left alone will show signs of anxiety by barking, howling, and whining, some dogs may suffer in quiet by panting, drooling, and breathing quickly.
If a recording is made while the dog is in its crate, it could indicate whether the dog is acting anxiously and is urinating as a result. A specialist listening to the tape might offer some crucial insights into possible triggers.
It’s critical to manage anxiety if symptoms are identified. Although an adult dog can be trained to enjoy its crate, other options may need to be considered if the dog exhibits confinement fears or separation anxiety.
5. At night, keep the crate close by.
There are a number of benefits to having your dog sleep in a crate close to us, despite the fact that many dog owners find the idea repulsive, especially when their dog poops in the crate at night.
The fact that the dog can communicate with humans is the most crucial. A dog that has received proper crate training won’t want to urinate inside of it, therefore they will express their dissatisfaction in some other way. They might scratch at the crate door, bark, or complain.
Ignoring these signs can lead to serious issues. If the dog’s discomfort is ignored on a regular basis, they might give up and learn to stop communicating, which would mean they would just go potty when they felt like it.
Most dogs, even those who don’t speak well, will need to move about in their crates in order to relieve themselves, and if we respond swiftly to their noises, we can help avert an accident.
Anecdotally, several dog owners report that their dogs have thrived in crates without any bedding. The dog might feel less safe from the filth and might be more inclined to express the urge to relieve themselves aloud if the bedding is gone.
6. Bring the Dog Outside
That’s why it’s critical that we take the dog outside right away if they start to wiggle around in the kennel or exhibits any other pre-potty behavior.
We can occasionally prevent an accident in the crate if we are deep sleepers by setting an alarm for a midnight break to take the dog outdoors. We must set the alarm earlier and make every effort to avert the accident if we awaken to find it has occurred.
To avoid mishaps in the kennel, we can set the alarm clock for approximately thirty minutes earlier and take the dog outdoors if accidents occur at roughly the same time every night. We can put the dog back in the crate and try again 30 minutes later, or earlier if the dog exhibits pre-potty symptoms, if they don’t poop after being released outside.
You can gradually try setting the alarm later and later till the dog sleeps through the night and goes potty first thing in the morning if it is a young puppy and has accidents due to lack of bowel control.
7. Correctly Clean Up Accidents
It’s critical to properly clean the crate and all of the bedding in the event of an accident. Given that the cage “smells like bathroom” to the dog, any slight odors left behind could put them at risk for more accidents.
To try to eliminate the scent, it is crucial to clean up any messes with an enzymatic cleanser.
8. Promote a Sense of Hygiene
If a dog poops throughout the night and the crate is not cleaned right away, the dog can grow accustomed to sleeping in her mess. The dog isn’t taught the joys of sleeping in a tidy crate by doing this.
Any spills should be cleaned up right once to avoid the dog rolling about on it or sleeping on it. This creates hygienic habits and facilitates an easier cleanup. Naturally, the ultimate objective is still to avoid crate mishaps in the first place.
It can also assist in establishing the crate as an eating area rather than a bathroom by feeding the dog in it and providing her with safe edible chews.
9. Steer Clear of Upset
When we wake up and discover our dog sleeping in his or her mess, it’s quite tempting to become angry with the dog. The thought of cleaning the crate and giving the dog a wash may irritate us even if we aren’t upset with it directly.
Our dogs won’t connect the fact that they poop in the crate hours earlier with our sentiments of annoyance or aggravation unless we catch them in the act. They only believe that because they are in the crate, we are upset with them. This may cause anxiety and unfavorable associations with being in the box.
Dogs might not comprehend that we are angry with them for urinating in the kennel, even if we are able to catch them red-handed. They might merely assume that we are angry with them for relieving themselves in our presence.
When dogs are carried outside to relieve themselves, it might cause difficulties such as their hiding to defecate, losing their pre-potty cues, and being reluctant to poop in front of us. The dog might attempt to contain it while we are nearby, but if we get out of the way and the dog is crated, he or she might end up pooping.
10. Test a Different Approach to the Crate
If worse comes to worse, it might be helpful to stop using the crate entirely in challenging situations if the dog exhibits anxiety when confined. The goal of the crate is to contain waste, hence it is defeated if you defecate inside of it.
For instance, the dog might be kept confined in an exercise pen that has a grass toilet box or numerous pee pads on one end and an appropriately sized crate inside (with the door latching open).
With this configuration, the dog is able to sleep within the crate and, ideally, go outside to relieve themselves. This gives some wiggle room for advancement as the dog has the choice to move away from his bedroom/sleeping place and facilitates an easier clean-up process by keeping the crate from turning into a “bathroom.”
References
- Stress and the Gut, by Dr. Howard Mertz Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology Vanderbilt University
- American College of Veterinary Behaviorists: Behavior Tips: House Training 2020 Lore I. Haug, DVM, MS, DACVB; Debra Horwtiz, DVM, DACVB
- Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult Clinical Companion: Canine and Feline Behavior, 2nd Edition
- Katherine, A., Houpt. (2009). House soiling by dogs
- A retrospective study of canine house soiling: diagnosis and treatment SC Yeon; HN Erb; KA Houpt J Am Anim Hosp Assoc (1999
